Whether it’s a puzzle game or a fighter almost no video game made today is ever released without some sort of story element. And yet it still often seems as if storytelling in video games has made little progress over the years, with too many games sporting the same predictable plots and awkward dialogue. But the Ace Attorney series is different. Its plots may be nonsensical but it realises one of the key truths of storytelling: if you care about the characters you can get away with just about anything.

The first three Ace Attorney games cast you as a talented but inexperienced defence attorney named Phoenix Wright but also features a large and storied supporting cast. This ranges from a family of spirit mediums, to neutral parties such as Detective Gumshoe and the semi-senile judge, to rival prosecutors such as childhood friend Miles Edgeworth and the visor-wearing, coffee-addicted Godot. Most are barking mad, but usually a picture of sanity compared to the various loonies that end up in the witness box.

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Ace Attorney is not the least bit concerned with realism and regularly features supernatural and sci-fi elements. At the same time, its grasp of legal procedure, even given the peculiarities of the Japanese legal system, would shame a five-year-old. It’s silly, it’s awesome, and we’ve always loved it.

As you might gather this is not a new game. What’s more, things are going to get very complicated as we try explain exactly how not new it really is. The first Ace Attorney title was released on the Game Boy Advance back in 2001, but only in Japan. It wasn’t until 2006 that it showed up in Europe, as a DS port with an extra touchscreen trial. In fact, all three of the original games started life as Game Boy Advance titles, and there have only actually been three mainline games since the series became a cult hit in the West.

The first three games have been ported to a wide range of other formats, although rarely a home console. This collection is based on the iOS version, which includes new higher resolutions visuals and a price tag that has mysteriously more than doubled since then. We can accept that ultra low-resolution Game Boy Advance graphics make no sense on modern HD consoles but the new visuals seem to have been created by tracing over the old sprites by hand, which robs them of a lot of their original charm. And as we said, charm is really what Ace Attorney is all about.

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In terms of gameplay Ace Attorney is an offshoot of the age old visual novel concept; it’s more interactive than most though and more than just a linear text story. All three of the games are split between investigating and defending a series of cases, with Phoenix speaking to witnesses and investigating the crime scene (no, that’s not what attorneys do) before heading to court to try and break down their testimony by pointing out either logical or, through the use of evidence, factual inaccuracies in their story.

Each subsequent game has added a new gimmick, most notably the Psyche-Locks in Justice For All, but the gameplay and structure remains largely the same across the whole series. In fact, playing so many of them, one after the other, the formula of the trials is more obvious than ever. But that’s still barely a criticism given the real appeal is the dialogue and characters.

What is a problem though is an issue that still hasn’t been resolved in any of the games: it’s often fairly obvious where the inconsistency in a testimony lies, but knowing exactly how and when the game expects you to prove it can be frustratingly obscure.

Often, you’re able to work out the case on your own, but you have to follow the linear progression of the story to get to the point where Phoenix can catch up with you. Or worse the game wants you to use different evidence to prove a point than seems logical. These early game also have you pixel-hunting locations for clues, which thankfully the latter ones stopped doing.

This can lead to frustration and unnecessary repetition, but to be honest it’s nothing a quick trip to YouTube can’t solve. In the end, the biggest problems are simply the price and the charmless, sometimes amateurish-looking, visuals.

It would’ve been a much better idea to remaster the second trilogy of games, which began to use 3D models for characters, but considering there are several spin-offs that have still not even been released in the West it’s clear that Ace Attorney does not have a big enough audience to justify that kind of outlay.

It deserves to though. And it would’ve been welcome evidence that Phoenix and his friends will continue their fight against injustice and boring video game characters for many years to come.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

In Short: The sheer age of the games are beginning to count against them but Ace Attorney still remains exhibit A in how to make even the silliest story-based games fun and engaging.

Pros: One of gaming’s most entertaining cast of characters, with sharply written dialogue and effective melodrama. Some clever puzzles and Psych-Lock conundrums. Plenty of content.

Cons: All the old problems with inconsistent, and occasionally illogical, solutions. The higher res visuals don’t have the charm of the originals. Unfairly expensive.